Separators, such as manure separators for example, and the rotating horizontal drums used therewith, are well known in the art.
Indeed, examples of conventional separators with rotatable horizontal drums are illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 (product commercialized by ACCENT™), in FIG. 4 (product commercialized by DARITECH™), and in FIGS. 5-9 (products commercialized by VINCENT CORPORATION™).
Also known to the Applicant are the following U.S. patent and patent applications which describe various other types of separating mechanisms and/or the like: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,750,884; 4,267,035; 4,303,508; 4,426,921; 4,535,895; 5,429,248; 5,524,769; 5,618,424; 5,622,625; 5,967,335; 6,702,120 B1; 6,892,516 B1; 6,938,846 B1; 2006/0273048 A1; 2007/0235394 A1; and 2010/0012573 A1.
It is also known in the art that the main difficulty during the processing or “dewatering” of material, such as manure for example, is not necessarily the separation of the liquid material from the solid material thereof, as such, but rather the difficulty of operating a given liquid separating device in a manner so as to obtain constant and efficient results.
Separator systems with “rolling drums” configurations are also well known, and are relatively common in the field of solid/liquid separation. However, a main problem associated with such a configuration is that these systems are relatively poor in terms of performance since the material to be processed is not under pressure. Thus, a very large-sized cylinder is required to compensate, which in turn takes up a very large amount of space. However, such an increased length and increased diameter of a large-sized cylinder obviously lead to other substantial drawbacks and inconveniences.
It is also known that most conventional rotary screen separators which are intended to separate liquid material from solid material in a mixture material to be processed, generally consist of a rotating liquid separating drum which is simply perforated, that is, provided simply with a series of small circular holes about the peripheral surface of the drum, extending in a straightforward manner between the interior of the drum and the exterior thereof, for allowing liquid material to be evacuated through said small simple circular holes. However, such a configuration is not optimal in that, among other disadvantages, such small simple circular holes tend to become plugged up by the mixture material inside the drum to be processed.
Hence, in light of the above-discussed, there is a need for an improved liquid separating drum and/or corresponding separator provided with the same, which by virtue of its design and components, would be able to overcome or at the very least minimize some of the above-mentioned prior art problems and drawbacks.